


Boyfriend

by starrystarrytrouble



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, Boyfriends, Doctors & Physicians, Drinking & Talking, F/M, Falling In Love, Flirting, Friendship/Love, Jealousy, Late Night Conversations, Late at Night, Romance, Secret Relationship, Slow Burn, Walk Into A Bar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:20:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26015662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrystarrytrouble/pseuds/starrystarrytrouble
Summary: MC’s got an admirer…but it’s not Ethan.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart)
Kudos: 28





	Boyfriend

Ethan stepped in and looked around the bar with distaste. It was rammed with surgeons, rowdy and drunk, and the music was blasting far louder than he was used to.

“You could’ve warned me, Rookie.”

“Hey, it’s not every day you offer to be seen out _publicly_ with me. When you said yes, I really just had to go with it.”

He paused for a moment, taken back by her emphasis. They hadn’t spoken about what the hell they were doing. There was never a formal discussion of keeping it secret, it seemed obvious that it was necessary for now, especially when things were so new.

“Plus it slipped my mind. It’s Chase’s 30th birthday tonight. He’s one of Bryce’s surgeon friends, that guy talking to Harper in the corner?” she pointed to a tall blonde man grinning suavely, “So every Boston surgeon is starting their night here. We can go if you like.”

“I promised you a drink before dinner.” He sat down in his usual spot and ordered for them. Eve joined him, sitting around the corner of the bar, one seat away.

“You don’t have to sit that far away.” He was suddenly conscious of her attempt to be discreet.

“I’m concerned you won’t be able to control yourself when I take my jacket off and our cover will be blown.”

“That’s ridiculous, I…”

Keeping her eyes locked on this, Eve grabbed the lapel and slid her coat down her exposed shoulders, moving agonisingly slowly, a few centimetres at a time, lower and lower down her bare back, until it dropped to the floor with a flourish.

She swept her hair over one shoulder, swirled a twist around her finger and bit her lip, still fixed on him.

He opened his mouth to respond but soon realised he hadn’t made a sound.

The air was intolerably thick. The smell of tequila and beer, the heat and buzz of the room and something else, jasmine, rose and _her_.

She crushed the delicate black silk tied at her throat and ran a finger up her collarbone drawing attention to a bruise on the nape of her neck. For a second he was utterly lost in the memory, remembering her skin, soft as velvet, in between his teeth. 

“I didn’t know we’d be stopping here, or I would have worn something more appropriate.” she said innocently.

“Or less _in_ appropriate,” he smirked.

“If you don’t like it…”

“I like it. I like it more knowing I’ll be taking it off.”

She brought her glass to her lips, looked up at him through her lashes, trying to hide her smile. She was ready to reply when a familiar voice chimed out.

“And there was me thinking my birthday couldn’t get any happier.”

Chase sat down sloppily in the seat between her and Ethan, and she leant back trying to avoid the thick hand he placed on her shoulder.

“Hey Chase. Happy birthday.”

“I didn’t expect to see you tonight. Bryce said you had plans, but I guess you couldn’t miss a party like this.” He removed his hand from her and pointed towards a group of wasted surgeons doing tequila shots.

“Yo, my man, two more!” he shouted over the bar, pointing at her glass.

Reggie quirked an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Ethan, who shook his head almost imperceptibly in despair.

Eve caught his look and smiled to herself. Chase grinned back at her.

“You know, I hit all my birthday goals. I killed my 20s. Career, friends…women.” He looked her up and down, his eyes swarming over her back and reached for her arm which she deftly pulled away. He didn’t notice.

“I always liked you. Even when you got in trouble with the board last year. Damn shame if they’d kicked you out, you look cute around the hospital. Banging body.”

Smirking, he took a swig out of one of the glasses Reggie had filled and stared at it in horror.

“Eurgh, what the hell is this shit…whisky? Why are you drinking an old man’s drink?”

He leaned in closer, freeing up her view of Ethan, and she bit back another smile when she saw the attending’s expression.

“We should get out of here. I’m guessing you’re not seeing anyone?” Chase continued.

She’d been toying with that question herself lately and without thinking, she looked up over Chase’s shoulder. The tiniest whimper of doubt transformed instantly into a challenge when her eyes locked onto _his_.

_Your move, Ramsey._

Ethan held her gaze, lost in the sheer sultriness of her stare, and then took a long cool sip from his glass, without breaking eye contact.

“So, you’re single, or…?” she heard Chase ask.

“OR.” Ethan mouthed to her firmly.

She tilted her head with a faint glimmer of surprise, before taking a last look back at him staring at her with what felt like approval.

“Actually, I’m not.”

Chase gave his most dazzling smile and dropped his voice to a low whisper.

“I don’t mind if you don’t.”

“You know who would mind, my… _boyfriend_.” She lingered on the last word, taking her chances.

Instantly, she failed to stop herself glancing over at Ethan, and found him looking straight at her, wide-eyed. 

“Well, I don’t see him here now. Can’t be too much of a boyfriend, leaving a hot girl like you to…”

“Dr Valentine.”

Ethan’s low authoritative voice startled them both and for the first time Chase noticed he was there.

“A word, outside.”

He stalked out the bar without another word.

Eve shrugged at Chase who opened his mouth to protest a moment too late and watched her head out the bar.

The cool night hit Ethan with the ferocity of salty sea air on the Atlantic coast. Relieved to be outside, he lingered by the door and waited for her, taking her hand the moment she emerged and holding it tight, far tighter than he intended.

“I’d say thanks for the save, but you took your time.” she said, with a smile.

“You were handling it fine. You didn’t need my help.”

“Riiight. Except when I said ‘let’s go for a drink before dinner’ I didn’t mean ‘I want to hang out with an annoying frat boy surgeon.’”

Between walking into the dirty crowded bar and stepping back out, something had changed. She could feel it, walking in step with him now. There was a crackle between them, new electricity, and they’d moved onto yet another level that they weren’t going to discuss. But she needed to be sure.

She stopped under a streetlight and stood in front of him, both hands holding his. The still street was blacked out by the glare and for this moment, he was the only other person in Boston.

“I actually meant, ‘I want to be with my…boyfriend.’”

She said the word again and he looked at her the same way, his blue eyes wide and the corners of his mouth curling into a tiny smile, only this time there was something more.

The outline of contentment.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, her body pressed right against him, kissing her gently at first and then harder, hands tangled in her hair. He renewed the intensity as he parted her mouth until she was lost entirely in him, entranced by the taste of whisky, salt and cedarwood, falling in deeper until at last, reluctantly, she gently pulled away for breath.

She stayed there pressed close to him, her eyes still shut, when he answered.

“He wants to be with you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoyed writing this so much - thanks for reading!
> 
> Based on this quote (used with permission): https://nooruleman.tumblr.com/post/626343398116327424/stranger-to-mc-so-youre-single-or-ethan
> 
> Tumblr: @starrystarrytrouble


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